Power-transmission mechanism.



M. L. SEVERY &' M. SGUTERUD. POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM. APPLIOATIONFILED JAN 25, 1913.

1, 1 26, 1 ()2. Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

I16 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. 3 20 12 M. L. SEVERY & M. SGUTERUD.

POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, 1913.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

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MELVIN L. SEVERY AND MIKARL 'SCUTERUD, OF ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, MASSACHU-SETTS, ASSIGNORS TO SEVERY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSA-CHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTER-TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MELVIN L. SEVERY and MIKARL SCUTERUD, both ofArlington Heights, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPower-Transmission Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in power transmissionmechanism.

The object of the. invention is to provide a reversible,variable-speedmechanism, which also performs the functions of a systernof leverages by increasing the torque and decreasing the speed.

The invention comprises a double driving member, a driven member, and aninterposed fluid, the latter being'throttled or impeded in itscirculation through the device to vary the speed of the driven member.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a central, verticallongitudinal section of an illustrative embodiment of the invention,Fig. 2 is a' transverse vertical section taken on the line 2--2 in Fig.l, the conical annulus being shown in elevation and Fig. 3 is a similarview taken on the line 38 in Fig. 1.

As illustratedin the drawing, the device comprises a cylindrical drumcomposed of sections 10 and 12, bolted together and hav ingsubstantially flat outer end walls l4, 16, respectively, the drum 10also having an inner end wall 18, open at the center. The cylindricalwall of the drum is provided with a filling hole closed by a screw 20,and a vent to be opened during the filling but normally closed by ascrew 20 similar tothe screw 20. The end wall 14 is provided with astufling-box 22, through which a hollow boss 24 passes, said boss havinga stuffingbox 26 at its outer end and being shdably mounted on thesection 28 of a driving or crank-shaft. The crank-shaft is constructedof two sections 28 and 29, the section 28 having a groove 30 on itsinner end adapted to receive a tongue 31 formed on the adjacent end ofthe section 29, and this joint is held in place by a collar 32. Theouter end of the shaft-section 29 is slidably mounted in'a cylindricalcavity 34 formed in a boss 36 on the end wall 16, said boss being'afixed to a driven shaft 38. The

.face.

driving shaft 28, 29 does not move longitudlnally, whereas the drivenshaft 38 is slidable longitudinally, the boss 36 beingslidable over thesection 29 of the driving shaft, and the boss 24 being slidable over thesection 28, said bosses being provided with grooves 40, 41,respectively, adapted to receive shipper rods. The end 29 of thecrank-shaft is provided with a vent 44 which communicates with thecavity 34 to prevent the trapping of any fluid in said cavity.

The section 28 of the crank-shaft is provided with a crank-pin 46, shownin Fig. 2, to which a plurality of piston rods #48 are connected.Although three piston rods are shown, it will be understood that anynumber may be employed. The piston rods 48 are connected to pistons 50,slidable in cylinders or holes52 formed in a conical disk 54. The disk54 is formed with an axial boss 56 rotatable on the crank-shaft section28, and the periphery of said disk is formed with an internal gear 58.Both ends of the cylinders or holes 52 are open, and the conical surfaceof the disk 54 formsthe engaging surface of the inner member of afriction clutch. The outer member of the clutch is a cup-shaped member60, having a conical inner surface adapted to fit the conical surface onthe dislr54, and to fit over and close the outer ends of the holes 52.The clutch-member 60 is formed integrally with or is ailixed to the boss24, and is accordingly slidable along the shaft 28, being keyed to saidshaft by a key 62, which is slidable in a key-way 64 in said shaft. Thesection 29 of the'crank-shaft is also prorality of piston rods 66 areconnected.

The rods 66 are connected to pistons 68, slidable in cylinders or holes70, formed in an annulus 72 havin an outer conical sur- This annulusforms the inner member of a friction clutch and is provided with anannular rib 74, which is joined to a similar rib 76 on the side of anexternal gear 78,

said gear having a boss 79 journaled to rotate on the boss 56. Theannulus 72 is secured to the gear 78 by pins or screws 80 passingthrough said annulus and throu h the ribs 74 and 76. The external gearT8 meshes with a plurality of pinions 82 journaled on stud-shafts 83mounted in the wall vided with a crank-pin, to which a plu- 18 of thedrum, and said pinions also mesh with the internal gear 58. Both ends ofthe cylinders or holes are open, and the conical outer periphery of'theannulus 72 is adapted to fit the correspondingly shaped inner surface ofa cup-shaped clutch-member 84. The clutch-member 84 is slidably keyed tothe driving or crank-shaft section 29 by a key 86 slidable in a keyway88 in said shaft, and said member is rotatably fastened to the end wall*16 bv a plate 90 which engages an annular shoulder formed on saidmember. The entire space within the drum is tilled with a fluid 92,which may be oil, glycerin, or any other. suitable substance.

When the fluid 92 is allowedto pass freely into and out of the cyindersthere is no motion of the drivenend or shaft; but when the outerclutch-members, which also serve as valves to more or less close theouter ends of said cylinders, are moved by their'ship 78, and 82 have norelative rotation and the.

drum and driven shaft rotate at the same speed as the driving shaft.

If either or both of the valve members is moved back to allow, acompletely free flow into and out of the cylinders, the shaft 38 willnot be driven by the shaft 28 except that there may exist a slightdriving tendency due to the friction of the parts of the device and thefriction of any liquid flow. If both the valve members are moved towardthe cylinder members to throttle the flow into and out of the cylinder,or if one valve member be moved over into positive driving engagementwith its cylinder member while the other valve member is moved over tothrottle the flow into and out of its corresponding cylinder member,then the shaft 38 will be driven at reduced speed from the shaft 28, thespeed of the member 38 tending to increase as the clutches increase thethrottling action, and this speed finally becomes identical with thespeed of the driving shaft 28 when both valve members have entered intoa positive frictional driving engagement with their correspondingcylinder members. The device thus prov1des means to give a wide range ofspeed reduction which is subject to close regulation.

The specific construction of the clutch de vice used herein forms thesubject matter of our copending application, Serial No. 738,526, filedDecember 26, 1912, and accordingly is not claimed herein.

What We claim is 1. The combination of a pair of axially alined andindependently rotatable shafts: a planet gear mounted to revolve withone of said shafts; a pair of gears rotatably mounted on the secondshaft coaxial therewith and meshing with opposite sides of said planetgear; a pair of clutches of the fluid type, each adapted to clutch saidsecond shaft to a corresponding one of the two gears mounted thereon toprovide a variable speed-reducing drive between the same; and meansfor'in'dividually controlling the action of said clutches.

2. The combination of a pair of axially alined and independentlyrotatable shafts; a planet gear carried'by one of said shafts to revolvetherewith; a pair of gears rotatably mounted on the second of saidshafts coaxiallytherewitli and meshing with opposite sides of saidplanet gear; cone clutch members operatively connected one with each ofthe gears on said second shaft and each formed with a plurality ofcylinder spaces having their ends terminating on the clutch surfaces'ofsaid clutch members; pistons in said cylinders; crank connectionsbetween said pistons and said second shaft; coacting cone clutch memberssplined on said second shaft and shiftable to engage the clutch surfacesof said first named cone clutch members and adapted as they approachtheir engaging positions to throttle the flow of fluid into and out ofsaid cylinder spaces; means for shifting said clutch membersindependently of each other; a suitable casing structure inclosing saidclutch members; and a liquid confined .by said casing.

3. The combination of a pair of axially alined and independentlyrotatable shafts; a

planet gear carried by one of said shafts; a

pair of gears rotatably mounted on the second of said shafts and meshingwith opposite sides of said planet gear; variable speed drivingconnections between each ,of said gears and said second shaft; and meansfor controlling said variable speed driving connections to vary thespeed ratio between said shaft and gears.

4. The combination of a pair of axially alined and independentlyrotatable shafts; a planet gear mounted on one of said shafts to revolveas the same rotates; an orbit gear and a sun gear rotatably mounted onsaid second shaft; pump mechanisms one associated with the orbit gearand the other associated with the sun gear, each adapted to produce acirculation of fluid by the relafive retation of safl seconel shaft withref- In testimony Whereef We have afixmi em erenee to the correspondinggear; and comsignatures, in presence of two Witnesses bined clutch andvalve mechanisms one for MELVIN L. SEVERY. each pump mechanism, zm eachadapted MH 'L SCUTERUD. first to throttle the flow of said liquid andWitnesses: e

*ahen to enter into mechanical clutching en- EDWAm) S. CROGKETT,gegement wlth the eex-respendmg gear. ELL'ZABETH A. Smmy. U

